The buildup to a college basketball game is a large part of the
overall experience. At UCLA, as well as many other schools,
the student seating is all unreserved, so students
line up
hours or even days before the
game to get the choice seats.

They let you into the arena an hour before game time, which
leaves plenty of time to discuss the last game, and this game,
and the players, and where they'll go in the tournament, etc.
etc.. When they finally let the students in an hour before
game time, there's a mad dash
to get to the best seats.

Once in your seats, you get to watch
warmups for most of an hour. This
is a great time for crowd-watching, and also for dissing the players for the
opposing team, and perhaps buying some
snacks or souveniers
.

About 5 minutes before the game, the teams leave the floor and
go back to the locker rooms briefly, and then the Bruins come
rushing back out through a tunnel
made of cheerleaders and students. After this, a guy
known as Frisbee leads the students in a
call-and-response cheer.

The final pre-game activity is the player introductions. The
starting lineups for each team are introduced. Each UCLA
player gets a spirited roar from the crowd, particularly if
they've been playing well recently. A special
cheer is reserved for the
introductions of the opposing team's players.